SOUTH AFRICA
Pistorius trial postponed
A judge yesterday postponed the murder trial of athlete Oscar Pistorius, who has been charged with shooting dead his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, until Aug. 19. Pistorius, 26, has admitted shooting Reeva Steenkamp, 29, four times through a locked bathroom door on Feb. 14 at his home in Pretoria. His lawyers have said Pistorius was acting in self-defense against what he thought was an intruder. The judge postponed the case after his lawyers asked for more time to prepare.
CHINA
Ex-Anhui official probed
Former Anhui Province vice governor Ni Fake (倪發科) is under investigation for alleged disciplinary violations, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Ni is being probed for “suspected serious disciplinary offenses,” Xinhua said. The phrase is a euphemism for corruption in the state media. The brief dispatch cited a statement released by the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The report offered no other details about what the alleged wrongdoing entailed.
AUSTRALIA
Mystery man baffles police
Sydney police were yesterday trying to work out what happened to a mystery Asian man who hammered on the door of an elderly couple’s house naked and covered in blood, pleading for help. The man, who does not speak English, staggered to the home on Monday night with significant head injuries before collapsing on the doorstep. “I was shaking like a leaf,” an elderly woman who lives at the home and did not want to be identified, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “But we couldn’t just leave him there to die.” Reports said he told police through an interpreter that he was mugged, stripped, tied up and locked in a car trunk before being dumped. Police said the man had no identification. He is in stable condition in hospital and police are waiting to formally interview him.
INDIA
Actress found dead
Bollywood actress Jiah Khan has been found dead at her home in Mumbai, police said yesterday. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the body of the 25-year-old actress was found in her apartment late on Monday. Khan, whose real name was Nafisa Khan, was born in New York and grew up in London before moving to Mumbai. Khan began her career in Mumbai’s film industry in the 2007 Hindi film Nishabd, in which she portrayed a teenager in love with her best friend’s father, played by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. The movie received average reviews because of its provocative storyline, but Khan was praised for her bold acting. In her brief career she performed with other top Bollywood stars, including Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar. Khan last appeared in the 2010 comedy Housefull, in which she played a supporting role.
JAPAN
Old Tokyo bomb destroyed
A bomb squad has destroyed an unexploded bomb left over from World War II that was found in Tokyo. The work left crowds of commuters temporarily stranded yesterday as local lines and the long-range bullet trains were halted as a safety precaution. The bomb found at a construction site was reportedly Japanese and about 40cm long. It was destroyed on the site, which was sealed off. Most of the old bombs found in Tokyo and other cities were dropped by the US, but some were buried or lost by the Imperial Army as well.
MEXICO
Missing activists found slain
Three farming activists from among a group of eight people who went missing last week have been found brutally murdered, authorities said on Monday. Authorities found the three in Guerrero State, apparently beaten to death along a highway, friends said. Another four of the eight who were apparently abducted escaped earlier in the day, while the last man in their group remains missing, one of those who escaped told media. On Thursday last week, members of the Emiliano Zapata Farmers’ Union blocked a highway in Iguala demanding that the government give them fertilizer. Hours later, their families reported them missing.
UNITED STATES
Teacher wins pregnancy suit
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio, violated anti-discrimination laws when it fired teacher Christa Dias after she became pregnant via artificial insemination, a federal jury said on Monday as it awarded her more than US$170,000. Dias’ attorney, Robert Klingler, said she was fired in October 2010 after informing two schools of her pregnancy because she was pregnant and unmarried. Dias, who is not Catholic, testified that she did not know artificial insemination violated church doctrine or her employment contract, adding that she though the clause about abiding by church teachings meant she should be a Christian. Steven Goodin, the attorney for the archdiocese and the schools, said Dias was fired for violating her contract and that Dias, who is gay, never intended to abide by it.
UNITED STATES
Dad dresses as Nazi in court
A man who gave his children Nazi-inspired names on Monday appeared dressed in a full Nazi uniform at a hearing in Flemington, New Jersey, to secure visitation rights to his youngest son. Heath Campbell — father of Adolf Hitler Campbell, 7; JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 6; Honzlynn Jeannie Campbell, 5; and Heinrich Hons Campbell, 18 months — appeared before the court in a bid to win the right to see Heinrich Hons, who was taken into care by social services shortly after his birth in November 2011. Heinrich’s elder siblings had already been taken into care in 2009. “I’m going to tell the judge: I love my children. I wanna be a father, let me be it,” Heath Campbell told NBC10 before the hearing. “Basically, what they’re saying is because of my beliefs and I’m a Nazi, that us people don’t have any constitutional rights to fight for our children.” Asked whether dressing up as a Nazi was likely to help his case, Heath Campbell was confident it would not be held against him, saying: “If they’re good judges and they’re good people, they’ll look within, not what’s on the outside.”
UNITED STATES
Man charged for ricin letters
A Mississippi man suspected of sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and two other officials was charged in a five-count federal indictment made public on Monday that could send him to prison for life if he is convicted. The indictment, dated May 31, charges 41-year-old James Everett Dutschke with developing, producing and stockpiling the poison ricin; threatening the president and others; and attempting to impede the investigation. The indictment also alleges that Dutschke mailed the letter in part to retaliate against a rival. Arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow at the US District Court in Oxford. Dutschke has been jailed without bond since his arrest. George Lucas, Dutschke’s lawyer, told reporters in an e-mail that his client will plead not guilty to all the charges.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia